Restoring the Earl's Honour by Arietta Richmond

Author:Arietta Richmond [Richmond, Arietta]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dreamstone Publishing
Published: 2019-02-14T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

By the time she arrived at Lord and Lady Northcott’s residence the following evening, for yet another Ball, Marion had regained some semblance of confidence in her ability to remain serene, no matter what whispers happened – for she was sure that there would be some. The ballroom was crowded, and she was greeted by many acquaintances as she moved into the room. Nothing was said, but she could tell that all of them were bursting with curiosity.

She had hoped that the slow change of manner towards Hungerwood might have been noted, and made this moment easier – but apparently, dancing with him had gone quite beyond what they had been ready to accept. She drew herself up, smiled, and chose to act as if she had not noticed their attitude. Soon, as if it was fated that she cause more gossip, Marion found herself near Lady Faith, and drawn into conversation. At that moment, Hungerwood was elsewhere – Marion was part disappointed and part relieved.

“I wish that people did not gossip so!”

Lady Faith frowned as she spoke, almost glaring out across the room at everyone in general.

“I quite agree – but I doubt that they will ever stop.”

“I suppose that I am more sensitive to gossip than most, for my family has been subjected to rather a lot of it. Especially since my brother returned from the Americas.”

“Indeed, being the subject of gossip makes one far more aware of it. I have suffered that fate as well, although they had mostly decided that I was dull, once the first year or so passed. Until now.”

“I wish that would happen for us – but they never seem to tire of it.”

“That is true – I hear many whispers about Lord Hungerwood – mostly from ladies who find his history exciting, but I have also overheard the men speak of him. May I ask you… why do some of them call him ‘Sin’?”

Lady Faith gave a small brittle laugh.

“It’s a contraction of our surname. Spoken rapidly, St. John sounds like ‘sinjun’. When Drummond was a boy, the other boys at Eton started calling him that, making jokes about ‘Sin the sinner’, whenever he did anything wrong. He told me about it, when I, as a small child, asked him why he didn’t like going back to school. But, typical of him, he chose to turn it against them – he began to go by that name much of the time, away from the family anyway, and they left him alone because he was no longer distressed by it. I gather that, once he left the country under… dishonourable… circumstances, he felt it appropriate to be that identity.”

Lady Faith had hesitated a moment when she said ‘dishonourable circumstances’ and Marion knew that it galled her to speak of Lord Hungerwood that way, when she knew the truth of it.

“But – if that is the case, why does he tolerate men calling him that, now, when he is Earl, when he is,

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